Love Hina: After The Story Ends
Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina.

This fic has a rating of R (just in case), which is reserved for possible future language, drug references, and detailed sexual situations.

Okay, now that I have my two little disclaimers out of the way, hi everyone! I had this chapter (and the next) ready, and hadn't planned on posting at least this one until I got at least a couple of reviews. But then I realized that I myself have skipped over fics just because they only had one chapter up, so I can't expect that nobody will do that. So that's why this chapter is up now.

Alright, so here's the general layout of my chapters- up here I'll babble or comment for a bit, and below I will add in my own comments after the chapter and respond to my reviewers, so if that's what you're looking for, scroll down.

For your amusement (and mine) I will be invoking muses now! That's right, my very own muses! Hehehe. Hopefully I can make this as amusing as the other authors I've seen do this, but since I'm not usually to terribly witty unless I'm being bitter, I'm not sure. Ah well. They'll be a little OOC because they're muses, but everyone, meet my own original characters, Seth and Xel.

Xel- Hey. ::gives the 'sup?' nod::
Seth- Hello! ::waves::

Me- This is a temp job for them, I had too many anime characters to choose from so I asked them to come. They may or may not stay, we'll see.

Xel- Since when are you so cheery?

Me- Since I'm writing, you arse. I think I made you too damn sarcastic.

Xel- Really? I never noticed. Maybe you should be more careful before you invoke your own characters as muses... it might be considered talking to yourself. You do that enough already.

Me- ::sweatdrop::

Seth- Xel, I'd be careful... she did create us. Bad things could happen if you make her mad.

Xel- As IF they aren't ALREADY happening.

Seth- I was trying to ignore that...

Me- Careful guys, one of you might jinx yourself.

Seth- Agreed. I'll do the honors, if you all don't mind.

Xel- Knock yourself out.
Me- I don't mind at all.

Seth- Very well then, here starts chapter two!

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Haruka told him about the upcoming renovations while he sat on the couch, eating his bowl of curry and rice. It was probably going to be a lot of work, but it wouldn't be so bad. If they all were putting their whole weekend into it, it would be done for the most part by Monday.
So he'd gotten there early and stayed somewhat late, having his regular chores done by Wednesday night. Thursday he was there bright and early, following the crew of workers in to begin cleaning. One by one as they returned from classes, the residents began pitching in. The two other buildings weren't as big as the main one, and by the end of the day the whole first floor of the first building, which they decided to turn into a sort of gym area, was clean, the floor freshly washed and polished, the rubbish and ratty old furniture thrown out.
The hour after dinner brought him back to the large veranda, which he was about halfway done mopping. Hearing people at one of the two sliding doors, he only glanced up, noting that it was only Naru, Keitaro, and the girl from the day before.
"Good evening, Kentaro!" Keitaro called. He was never unfriendly, but usually never went out of his way to speak to Kentaro. Kentaro straightened from his stooping position, rose to throw back a casual greeting. Naru, of course, wasn't so friendly. She made a small 'hmph' noise, crossing her arms and stopping in her tracks until Keitaro noticed she was displeased with something he'd said, which he did very quickly.
"Huh... what'd I say?" Keitaro wondered absently and a little sulkily. Naru made a face, and leaned to say something hushed to Keitaro, giving a rather irritated glance over at Kentaro as she spoke. Kentaro just rolled his eyes and moved to go back to mopping. Keitaro's laugh caught his attention, however.
"Hah, aw, Naru... you said the same thing about me, you know!"
"I thought so." The girl standing by them finally spoke up, sounding almost cocky.
"Thought WHAT?" Naru shouted in frustration, challenging the statement before she really thought.
"You've just got your panties in a twist over something. Don't get so wrapped up about it, I doubt he bites." The girl reasoned in the same sort of casual tone and manner which was characteristic to himself... although coming from him, it usually only served to anger Naru further. Not needing to hear or see the rest, He bent over, dunking the mop's brush into the bucket of water and swishing it about in preparation for more washing. But into his vision along the wood panel deck floor scuffed a pair of sandaled feet.
He stopped, stood, and cocked an eyebrow at the girl. She ignored his expression.
"Your name is Kentaro, right?" She stood, hands on her hips.
"That's me." He shifted his weight onto his left leg, letting the mop rest for a moment longer in the bucket.
"I'm Yura." It wasn't a curtsy or a nice to meet you, but instead, she boldly held out her hand for a shake. He looked at her hand, his eyebrow rising a bit higher, before looking back to her, breaking into a chuckle, and shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Yura." He broke the shake, moving to swing his mop to meet the floor, sopping wet. "Excuse me, but I haven't finished this floor yet." "Alright." She said simply. A short pause of silence brought her next words, which were peculiar in his ears. "We'll help you."
"Come on you guys!" She shouted. He looked up. She had turned back around to face the door, motioning to Keitaro, Naru, and Kitsune and Mutsumi, who were emerging from the doorway. "We're going to finish this floor before nightfall." The veranda ran almost all the way along the side of the building to look down a small incline. Mopping need to be finished and then it needed polishing.
Naru only looked rather perturbed, still crossing her arms. Kitsune and Mutsumi ignored her, moving past with another bucket and more mops and towels. Kentaro watched, mostly nonplussed. This phenomenon was altogether strange, until he remembered they were all supposed to be pitching in anyways.
"Oh, come on Naru!" Keitaro smiled, cheerfully pulling at Naru's wrist.
"Oh, alright, alright. Give me a towel." Naru finally gave in, content to forget about Kentaro entirely and focus on her boyfriend's request instead. Not abnormal, of course.
With all of their help, he was surprised to find it all done in a rather short time. He'd spoken a few times, giving polishing tips and instructing when asked a question, but mostly the conversation was limited between the others.
But when all was said and done, he bent to pick up two of the buckets and three of the mops, with the intention of putting away all of the equipment before heading home.
A familiar pair of feet stepped in front of him as he went to pick up the second bucket.
"Yes?" He asked.
"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" This question puzzled him, his position was none that included any sort of leadership. He stumbled, his eyes widening the slightest at the odd question.
"Ah... well... the second floor is mostly rooms like the main building. More floors to mop and polish, the rooms need dusting and vacuuming and clearing out. I've already cleaned the catwalks." He paused, resuming his former mildly amused look. This... Yura, it was... was entirely unfazed by his attitude, or his comments, he remembered. She was certainly interesting, he decided. "How come?" He asked.
"Because I wanted to know what we'll be helping you with." She said matter-of-factly, almost as if it were a stupid question, as she turned to pick up the bucket he'd been reaching for.
"See you tomorrow." She said over her shoulder as she left with the bucket, leaving him no time to argue. The others had already made their exits.
He dismissed the peculiarity of the exchange, deciding it best that he not worry about it. He should make it home if he was going to get up early the next day.

Yura went to the room they'd shown her, stepping into the bathroom to rinse off in the shower before putting something more comfortable on- baggy, boy-like shorts and a t-shirt, which was what she had brought with her in case Naru asked her to spend the night. She left what she could untouched, not wanting to mess much with someone else's room.
She poked her head into Naru's room, not bothering to knock first since the door was ajar. Naru was studying some more, which didn't surprise Yura in the least.
"Naru, I'm going to go get some of my things, and pack enough to be here until Monday. I'll be back." Naru looked over her shoulder long enough to smile back an 'alright' before turning back to her equation. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she turned towards the stairs.

Kentaro made it home, and washed up. Usually he showered in the morning, but with all the work he'd be doing the next day it didn't matter. Rifling through the cupboard above the stove, he found nothing really to eat. Sighing, he remembered he needed to go out and get more toothpaste and shaving cream, anyways. Grabbing his keys from the key hook in the kitchen, he slipped on flip-flops and headed out to the car; the supermarket wasn't closed yet.
Pulling out of his one-car driveway, he made his way through the nearly entirely empty streets. Traffic wasn't heavy around here, particularly this time of night.
Rounding a corner, he spotted someone... drawing closer he was almost amused to find it was Yura, her back to him, walking down the street. He paused, why he didn't know; he'd even offered Naru lifts before. Pulling up as quietly as a car can go, he came to a stop parallel to Yura on his side of the street, honking the horn.
She stopped, turned towards him, squinted, and pulled her glasses from where they were hooked on the collar of her shirt. Once on, she gave an amused smirk at recognition of him, immediately followed by a surprised look. Sauntering over, she stood at the corner of his car, eyeing it.
"Well, well- look who's got himself a hot little car." She said, standing to look back at him, not caring in the least that she was still standing in the street.
"...Yeah. You looked like you might appreciate a ride somewhere." He said, skipping over the subject of his car. Yura shrugged.
"Sure, why not. What's the catch?" She asked sarcastically as she made her way around to the passenger side.
"You'll have to endure ten minutes of me running in to the supermarket, but other than that, nothing." He replied.
"Hah... supermarket... fun." She said, slumping into the seat, shutting the door behind her.
"So Kentaro has a Masda. What else does Kentaro have?" She mused after moments, sarcastically masking small talk. She wasn't hard to understand, just... unusual.
"A job. A house. A wardrobe." He replied nonchalantly.
"I see. I noticed the job part. So, you know Naru from High School?"
"Hah... yeah, you could say that." He huffed a despondent chuckle.
"What's that mean?" She asked, noticing his scoff.
"Well, I introduced myself to her rather forwardly at the end of senior year. As you may have guessed, she didn't take too fondly too me." He explained casually. "Well, yeah. What I didn't guess was that she used to be a pop star, or that you used to be her manager. So there's more to both of you than I would've thought." She wasn't much for beating around the bush.
"Hah, well, that was a failed business attempt after her temper got the media's attention. It's a good thing I didn't go bankrupt from it."
"But it left you back here at square one, didn't it?" He was a little inwardly taken aback. He nodded.
"I see." Yura said.
She waited patiently the ten minutes it took for him to grab lunch meat, cheese, bread, toothpaste, and three apples from the grocer.
After directing him, they pulled into a townhouse complex on the edge of Tokyo U's campus. Yura's was crammed onto the end of the row; they were obviously meant to be third-party student housing by the size.
Taking a set of keys from her pocket, she unlocked the door. The front hallway was lined on the right by a stairway and on the left by a doorway to a small kitchen, and continued in front to a small room where he could spy a washing machine and dryer through the open door.
It was dim and cool inside. It didn't have a scent. Kentaro had always noticed a particular scent about any given residence, it almost defined the uniqueness of them. But none was here... all he could see was stark and clean. It was as if no one lived here. She invited him to fix his dinner with his groceries in the kitchen, she excused herself to go upstairs to pack and to make a phone call.
Yura hadn't bothered to turn on any lights, so he fumbled for the switch as he walked into the room. The result revealed in the room a bare table with only two chairs at it, placed near each other, as if Yura propped her feet in one and sat in the other. The counters were clean and bare, the sink was empty. An open cabinet revealed nearly no dishware, just enough for one person. "She must not have a roommate," Kentaro thought, setting the sandwich makings on the counter. Fumbling around in drawers, he found silverware in the second one he tried. It occurred to him that it might be considered rude to rifle through her things, so before he looked for the mayonnaise he decided he'd ask.
Coming up the stairs, he couldn't help but catch the conversation.
"Mom, I'm not. Yes, I got my astronomy grade up. To a B! What? Why can't I... it's a dormitory. It's all girls. My friend Naru stays there, I'm tutoring her for econ and she's helping me with my math course... no, she's a first-year. Yeah, she's pretty smart." Kentaro stopped at the door when Yura fell silent, he thought it the wiser to not interfere with the phone conversation.
"Okay. I'll page you the number and you can call Haruka. Yes, Haruka and her cousin own and manage the complex. No, mom, Keitaro is a Tokyo U student, too. Are you kidding, he goes to school AND manages a dormitory, would you have time for anything else? His grandmother owns the complex. Yes. Alright. No, not right away, everybody's pitching in to clean up an unused building before I'll actually have my own room. I can email you the address. Okay? Alright, mom, I will... okay, bye." Kentaro frowned. It sounded like it took a lot of convincing for her mother to let her stay in an all-girls dormitory, which to him seemed very strange. Waiting a few moments, he knocked on the doorframe of the open door, catching her attention. Yura looked up from a dresser drawer. Her room was the same stark walls and white carpet, a very plain bed and a plain dresser, a small closet in the corner had its white doors closed. A door was open, a light from the bathroom on the other side shining into the room. It only had a few things on the floor, but was otherwise clean. A cd walkman, a textbook, a shirt, a hairbrush, and, of course, the bag Yura was packing.
"I was wondering where, or if, you kept mayonnaise?" He asked. She blinked for a moment.
"Ah, yeah, I'll show you once I'm done. Not too much longer. You wanna see the rest of the place?" She asked, stuffing a last stack of clothes into a half-filled black duffel bag, which she slung over her shoulder. He couldn't tell if she really thought he was interested or whether she was only being polite or making idle conversation. He shrugged. "Sure."
"Well, there's not much to it. You've seen downstairs and my room, the bathroom opens to my room and the hallway, and the second bedroom I turned into my study." She said, moving past him down the small hallway and opening the closed door to her study. A desk sat in the middle, two sets of standing shelves held books, cd's, and videos. A short, long wooden table held a rather fancy stereo and a TV/VCR. The desk held a laptop. Along the rest of the wall were a rather simple keyboard, a small amp, and a rack holding a case which Kentaro could only guess contained some sort of stringed instrument. He looked around the room slowly as he waited for her. She stuffed into the bag a cell phone and its charger, another textbook and a couple cd's, then shoved the laptop into a corresponding carrier. Hoisting both up, she marched out of the room. "Would you like help with that?" He offered as she huffed past.
"Nope." She answered, already at the stairs. He followed her as she dropped both bags in the front hallway and then led him back into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she bent to take out and hand him the jar of mayonnaise.
"Do you want a drink?" She asked, looking up from the open door. Not knowing exactly what she was asking, Kentaro decided to give a specific answer instead of a yes or no; he drank at times but never when he was driving.
"I'll take some water, thank you." She said, looking up from the sandwich he was fixing. "Would you like a sandwich?" He asked out of polite habit.
"No thanks." She said, grabbing a canned green tea out of the refrigerator and moving to fix him a glass of water.
He sat down with his sandwich, taking his time to eat it. Yura followed suit, pulling the second chair around to the other side of the table and plunking herself into it with the can and a small bag of chips.
"So you don't have a roommate?" Kentaro asked. Courtesy called for idle conversation.
"Nope. Mom doesn't want me to have one. Took convincing to get her to let me switch to an all-girls dorm." She said, looking more interested in her chips than in the answer to his question.
"That seems backwards." He pointed, deciding that if she were so forward in nature she shouldn't mind such a question.
"That's 'cause it is. My parents are nutso, if you ask me." She replied, coaxing the last crumbs in the bag out. Kentaro took a last bite of his sandwich, and gulped down his water. Yura tossed the old bag into the trash can with lazy accuracy, and then went to the hallway while he put his empty glass and plate in the sink.
Yura was already out the door, dumping the two bags into the quite small backseat of his car. He headed out after her, sitting himself behind the wheel again. Yura went to the door and instead of locking it went back inside. She emerged again with the instrument case slung over her back, and, after locking the door behind her, returned with it to the car.
Kentaro navigated his way back to Hinata, dropping Yura off at the bottom of the long staircase. Feeling he didn't know her well enough to argue with her over the load she was carrying, he watched her, carrying three rather large bags, start up the rather long stone staircase. He shook his head. There was something very... intriguing about her, indeed. He needed to get home and to bed.

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Me-Thus endeth chapter two. What do you think?

Xel- It was slow.

Seth- I'm afraid I have to agree.

Me- Okay, I know. But it was necessary... even if it fit well I wouldn't feel right about randomly skipping through time. Besides, stuff actually beginning to happen to Kentaro is going to be a slow process anyways, or it would only seem abrupt.

Seth- Very true.

Xel- Hah... Yura doesn't seem slow to me.

Seth- Oh my.

Me- Damn, did I put a mouth on you. Well, we'll see what happens with who... not much is set in stone at this point. I call upon the power of the reviewers! Instill me with your input!

::cricket cricket::

Xel- Yeah, so, before you make more of an ass out of yourself, why don't we go ahead and respond to the reviewers. ::I hang my head in the background::

Seth- Very well, although, that's reviewER... not plural.

Me- Yes, well, hopefully that will change. Just read.

Seth- Alright. Ahem.
"Niak- Thank you! I like your fic. As for the whole marriage deal... well... I haven't read the manga and I just couldn't make Keitaro MARRY anyone. I mean, what happened to life? Plus this fic, at this point, doesn't focus so much on Keitaro anyways, so there's no room or point for it.
As for Kentaro... I'm not huge on OOCness, because I have a high respect for how characters were made to be, but Kentaro's development in the series is very little, so I had a lot of room to work with. That'll also tell you why I have an original character in there, and more to come. I have all of what happened within him logically worked out, too (which you could classify as either pathetic or being prepared... depends on your point of view). Kentaro and Yura both will be explained quite a bit more in chapters to come... oddly enough, it's the Love Hina original characters I'm not sure what to do with. Right now the only one that could call for a lot of input is Naru... we might see some Haruka, too. Not sure." ::Seth finally takes a breath::

Xel- Damn dude. Tarauka, that was a freakin long comment.

Me- Well, yeah. So sue me... I only had one reviewer, and reviews that actually say something about the story are worth me saying stuff back to. ::sticks out tongue::

Xel- How old are you again?

Me- Oh shut up.

Seth- ::stifles chuckle::